A Derby man who was part of a gang attack - which left a student fighting for his life - has had an appeal against his sentence rejected.

Haidar Mahmood was jailed for four years after being convicted of causing grievous bodily harm to Nottingham Trent University student Jagjeet Sandhu. He and three other men set on the-then 21-year-old outside a nightclub in April 2015.

One of them landed a “colossal” punch, sending Mr Sandhu crashing to the ground, where he struck his head on the floor.

They then battered the victim before fleeing the scene and meeting up later at a flat where one of them lived.

On Friday, Mahmood, of Osmaston Road, and fellow defendant Iqhlas Arishad, 26, of Stoke, had their appeals thrown out at the Court of Appeal in London.

But the other two men involved, Sakhib Choudhry, 24, of Manchester, and Addil Hussain, 23, of Slough, who were convicted of GBH with intent and jailed for 12 and 10 years respectively, were successful.

Their charge has now been downgraded to GBH without intent and their sentences have been slashed to only four years each. Lord Justice Davis said fresh medical evidence cast doubt on how Mr Sandhu's most serious injuries were caused.

He said: "In such circumstances, this court must set aside the convictions.”

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The court heard the attack arose out of an altercation between Mr Sandhu and Hussain in Nottingham's Oceana nightclub in April 2015. They were ejected from the club at different times but the four men then waited to hunt down Mr Sandhu.

When he appeared, he was chased down and attacked by all four men in full glare of CCTV cameras.

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Lord Justice Davis said the attack had serious consequences for Mr Sandhu, as revealed in a "moving" statement from his father.

He said the family had believed their son was going to die as surgeons cut into his skull and also performed a tracheostomy. He said: "He was in hospital for three months, then had to be moved to Coventry to receive ongoing care closer to his family home.

"Fortunately, perhaps remarkably, he has made good progress physically, but the position is that he is likely to suffer some permanent brain damage.

Sakhib Choudhry was successful in his appeal (Image: Nottinghamshire police)

"There clearly was here premeditation which was significant, whereby the group clearly were waiting for Mr Sandhu to come out and to take retribution. These were young men of impeccable character. They had positive attributes. They all seem to come from strong and supportive families."

But he added: "They were all in it together."

The appeals by Hussain and Choudhry against conviction were allowed, their convictions downgraded to unintentional GBH and their sentences cut to four years.

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Appeals by Arishad and Mahmood against their four-year terms for unintentional GBH were rejected.

In other news, a Derby rapist serving a life sentence for attacking six women in one night has been ordered to serve an extra month behind bars after launching a time-wasting bid to clear his name. Harbinder Singh Khatkar attacked three women in the street in Derby and broke into the homes of three others in the space of just 10 hours in February 2013.